Growing Pains After Nutrisystem

After ending Nutrisystem, I had what I call “growing pains.” Basically, once I was left to my own devices, I had a hard time picking what food to eat. I gained a bit of weight right away, and then maintained for a few weeks. I needed a kickstart diet in order to get back on track.
So, I went with the “Eat Your Heart Out” diet.

What is the “Eat Your Heart Out” diet?

I’d been seeing this 7-day diet all over the Internet. It’s called “Eat Your Heart Out” because you can each as much of you want of the day’s designated food. I could tell you about it, or I could show you. I prefer to show:

This is a lovely chart that shows exactly what you eat for the seven days of the diet. Handy!

While I can’t attest to just how healthy this diet is, I trust Justin and Ashley when they say they got the idea from a doctor.

And it certainly seems healthy. So I tried it.

My Daily Diary During the Diet

I decided to journal my feelings and progress through the 7-day diet. Here’s how it worked for me:

Day 1: Fruit

Starting Weight: 160.8

I totally don’t mind eating a bunch of fruit all day. It’s like a day-long dessert. Today, I ate apples (which I’d slice and microwave and throw some cinnamon on), peaches, strawberries and grapes. It was all very tasty, and I felt in tip-top shape. Well, not tip-top. I had a headache late in the day, but I don’t think it’s related.

Day 2: Vegetables

Weight: 158.8
Daily change: -2.0
Total change: -2.0

While I’m okay with baked potatoes, I’m even happier with sweet potatoes. Since I needed one or the other today, along with a ton of vegetables, I went with the sweet variety. Sweet just like me! Other vegetables included broccoli, zucchini, carrots and, best of all, spaghetti squash. Yum. 🙂

Day 3: Fruits and Veggies

Weight: 158.6
Daily Change: -0.2
Total Change: -2.2

This is just like the last two days. And, since I love both fruits and vegetables, it wasn’t difficult at all. And can you really beat a breakfast of grapes, strawberries and sliced apples? Well, maybe you can, but what I had was still awesome. I’m feeling good and there haven’t been any adverse effects.

Day 4: Bananas and Milk

Weight: 157.8
Daily Change: -0.8
Total Change: -3.0

I like bananas. I like milk. This should be easy, right? Well, it wasn’t so bad. I ate 7 bananas and drank three big glasses of milk. However, I did have a kind of hard moment. See, the next two days involve eating chicken, so, today I went to the grocery store and got a whole rotisserie chicken. I carved it up today, and it smelled so good. I really wanted to eat some. Instead, I ate a banana and drank some milk (plus a tiny, tiny sliver of chicken. It was an “accident.”) I’d say that was some successful willpower.

Day 5: Fowl and Tomatoes

Weight: 155.8
Daily Change: -2.0
Total Change: -5.0

Yay! It’s chicken day! The carved up rotisserie chicken in my fridge is calling out to me. Also: I’ve lost five pounds so far doing this. I’d say that’s super, super, super awesome. And if I lose only 0.2 more pounds, I’ll have lost 100 total overall. So, you can see how much I’m anticipating some success.

Day 6: Chicken and Vegetables

Weight: 156.6
Daily Change: +0.8
Total Change: -4.2

Another chicken day, so that’s awesome. Unfortunately, I didn’t follow the plan as faithfully today. I went to an apple festival, but I didn’t go as hog-wild as I might have in the past. I was there with other people, so I shared a few things. I had a third of a piece of apple pie and half of a very small piece of pumpkin cheesecake. Otherwise, everything went fine.

Day 7: Vegetables and Fruit?

Weight: 156.4Daily Change: -0.2Total Change: -4.4

Up until this point, I’ve liked everything I was supposed to eat. Today is different. For day 7, you’re supposed to drink this god-awful soup made from all of the very few vegetables I actually hate. So, rather than choke down that soup, I ate mostly vegetables and a bit of fruit.

The Final Tally

Final Weight: 155.4
Daily Change: -1.0
Total Change: -5.4

In the end I lost over 5 pounds and hit my goal of 100 pounds total loss.

Would I do this again?

Yes. Yes, I would. In fact, I plan on doing it again in a few weeks. I felt great during it and I liked everything I ate.

Should you do it? Well, that’s completely up to you. But, if you do, you should totally let me know how it goes in the comments!

hello trisha, i have 75 pounds to loose i dont exercise a lot but walking or dancing is what im planning to do ,i know you said dont cheat ,but its hard not to ,is this cheating say you get up and its midnight your stomach is growling i will eat 2 tablespoons of cottage cheese is this bad like once a week ,thanks charlotte

Yep, I exercised during the diet week. I did it during a recovery week for P90X, so I just did some cardio and yoga and stuff. I wouldn’t recommend it when you’re doing a lot of hardcore exercise though, because you generally need more calories during something like that. Most exercise is fine, though, from what I understand.